For about four months, Ugandans have been distracted from the social media posts of the Commander-in-Chief of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, and focused on themselves.
Meanwhile, people have tried to emulate Kenya’s Gen Z by taking to the streets to demand better governance and an end to corruption – they are swiftly put down by a brutal police force.
At the time, President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power for 40 years, vowed to curb widespread corruption. Now, three members of parliament were jailed last month, with several of them out on bail.
Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba then made a startling post on X, which seemed to suggest that the arrests of some MPs were not for corruption but were a coordinated plot to silence his movement and seize power from his father in 2026. The 2026 presidential candidate has yet to be decided, and his father has not indicated he will not run.
“My friend Michael Mawanda is in prison (and they think we will remain silent forever) while people who have been stealing from this country for decades are still ministers?? Mzee should hear our cries for change. Michael Mawanda is a political prisoner. He was put behind bars by the politically corrupt people of NRM for the ‘mortal crime’ of supporting Muhoozi Kainerugaba in Bushenyi. His only crime was supporting me. Free Mawanda!” he posted.
Michael Mawanda, who is serving time in prison on charges of theft, corruption and his involvement in the embezzlement of about 160 billion shillings ($43 million) from cooperatives meant for government veterans, is the member of parliament for Igala East in Uganda’s Bushenyi district in western Uganda.
He was also the chairman of MK Project, a vague organisation that promoted General Kainerugaba’s presidential bid and which later morphed into the political organisation Patriotic Union of Uganda (PLU).
For about two years, the group has been touring the country, announcing Gen. Kainerugaba at birthday parties and other events as its recommended candidate for the 2026 presidential elections. The Electoral Commission has just set the election date to around January 12, 2026.
And when Gen. Kainerugaba was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Ugandan military, the highest position in the country, in March 2024, his supporters saw him given more power and influence, while political commentators said the “emergency generator,” as his supporters like to call it, had been switched off.
They noted that his appointment may have been a reminder that he is an active military officer and should not get involved in politics, because the Political Parties and Organisations Act (Section 16) states that “No member of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, Uganda Police Force, Uganda Prisons Service, civil servant, traditional or cultural leader or person employed by a wholly owned government company shall (a) be a founder, promoter or other member of a political party or organisation, (B) hold any office in a political party/organisation, (C) speak or publish in public on any matter involving political or organisational controversy, or (d) engage in soliciting support for a political party or organisation, or for a candidate running for public election sponsored by a political party or organisation.”
However, General Muhoozi continued his mobilisation activities unhindered by this law.
And true to that analysis, nothing has come out of the General over the past four months apart from photos with diplomats and army officers appearing in the media, and nothing in particular from the General himself.
Then he appeared like a prisoner escaping from a prison and made a series of controversial and revealing remarks on X (formerly Twitter). He launched attacks in all directions, including local politics, diplomacy, and international relations.
He sent the letter to his brother-in-law, Odolek Rwabwogo, the presidential adviser on exports. Sources say Rwabwogo has presidential ambitions and is backed by some in Museveni’s family. He accused his father of being close to Rwabwogo, who keeps his supporter, Mawanda, in prison.
Rwabwogo’s team quickly responded in a statement, saying the general’s comments were instigated by a conspiracy.
But supporters of Gen Kainerugaba also responded in a statement signed by MP Dawoodi Kabanda, vowing to “vigorously” push back against the “inherently inaccurate” information.
“As the PLU, we want to assure all well-meaning Ugandans to treat this as baseless, unfounded and unsubstantiated,” he said.
But President Museveni gave no details and called on members of his National Resistance Movement party to shun “irprincipled confrontations” and focus on the party’s principles of patriotism, pan-Africanism, socio-economic transformation and democracy.
“Our mission is not personal gain but the development of the Ugandan people,” President Museveni said during a meeting with National Resistance Movement (NRM) lawmakers at the Presidential Villa in Entebbe last weekend.
For now, political analysts believe President Museveni’s next term, which is certain to end in 2026, will be dominated by internal family battles for supremacy rather than political infighting, as political parties and their leaders have been merged into the ruling party or bought off and silenced.
The role Gen. Kainerugaba plays could determine when and how President Museveni steps down from power.
